Learn all about the exhibit and auction benefiting LGBTQIA+ youth.

Equinox has a long history of celebrating Pride — both in June and beyond. This year, Shai Baitel, Equinox artistic advisor and director of the Modern Art Museum in Shanghai, dreamed up “Between You & Me: An Art Exhibition and Auction” for Pride Month. The online auction is running from June 24 to July 8, with 100 percent of the proceeds benefiting Camp Felix Pride, a summer camp for LGBTQIA+ youth in New York’s foster care system.

“By showcasing the work of leading LGBTQIA+ artists and photographers, this exhibit offers our community a differentiated experience that extends beyond the four walls of our Clubs and continues our tradition of contributing to the broader artistic and cultural discourse,” says Judy Taylor, Senior Vice President of Communications, Events, and Philanthropy at Equinox.

The Pride exhibit celebrates how the “expansiveness of gender and sexuality can be seen in the evolution of the pride rainbow flag since its introduction in the 1970s,” adds Baitel. The original pride flag bore six colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. It was sewn by political activist and designer Gilbert Baker and debuted at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade in 1978. Now, that ubiquitous flag has evolved to represent different races, as well as members of the trans community. 

“For this specific year, we chose to look into how the flag has become a prominent topic of discussion and change,” says Baitel. “We're looking at why the flag has changed over time and why there was the need to add more colors. We want to reflect on what is so different from what we were used to with the flag.”

The auction will feature work from artists of all ages to leave room for countless interpretations. “Art is a reflection of society because art imitates life. [The flag’s progression] is intriguing and it truly gives a place for everybody's opinion,” says Baitel. “Context really matters. The context of the ‘80s, the ‘90s, early 2000s is really different from what we see artists creating today. But [art] is always going to be in consideration of what has happened in the past.” 

Meet the Artists

Matthew Leifheit

Leifheit offers three works from his series, “The Photographers,” in which queer photographers take pictures of model Cole Pits. “These photographs are the only self-portraits in the series, looking behind the scenes of my own photoshoot with Cole at the Belvedere Guest House on Fire Island,” says Leifheit. 

Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

“These images form a document of intimate and revealing moments and experiences. I hope that they are beautiful as they are true,” says Ga-Ken Wan, a photographer based in Glasgow. Ga-Ken Wan works primarily on theater and film sets, and began his journey as a photographer at age 14.

Daniel Robin Clurman

“Queerness and the Feminine were taboo when I was growing up,” says Clurman, a mixed media artist living in Brooklyn. “They inhabited fear and shame. The feminine in these drawings shrugs off the guilt of exploring one's sexuality and gender.”

Emil Lombardo

Lombardo conceived of this work during the thick of the pandemic. “Although this project focuses on the effects of the global pandemic, I am interested in how these atemporal emotions exist outside of this specific period of time,” says Lombardo. “The work could resemble a collection of spontaneous encounters with individuals who gaze at the lens outside or near their homes.” 

Adam Linn

Based out of Mount Vernon, New York, Linn’s work considers gender, often without the use of human forms. “Cuddlers” is no exception. “This mezzotint engraving captures an embrace of two door handles wrapped around one another. Their connection is queer in the sense it is two of the same engaged in intimate contact. The display of affection reveals themes of intimacy and desire thereby imbuing these inanimate objects with a pulse of life,” Linn says.

Vic Lentaigne

“This is an image of my wife Romy I took whilst we were traveling in Ibiza. The text is something that she wrote in response to seeing my photographs. The notion of 'home' to LGBTQIA+ people can hold a lot of weight and can represent so many different things to us,” says Lentaigne. “This image represents a feeling of peace to me and it makes me feel proud to be able to love who I want and be with the person who makes me feel at home.”

Yael Malka

Hailing from the Bronx, Malka works in photography and sculpture. Her work is in conversation with how we see and connect with people. “In ‘Almost Touching,’ hands are severed, faces are missing, and the texture of skin is submerged in color and shadow. To me, these images mirror the logic of getting to know others. So often, we say the opposite of what we mean and truth emerges from the margins,” she says.

Mengwen Cao

“As a Chinese queer diaspora artist, my work intertwines the delicate threads of identity, love, and transformation. In collaboration with queer and trans artists like Holland Andrews, Yuniya Edi Kwon, and Jezz Chuang, we ventured into a realm where binaries dissolve, and true essence flourishes,” shares Cao. “These portraits illuminate the fluidity and depth of our collective journey, capturing moments of tenderness and resilience while offering a glimpse into the profound beauty and transformative power of queer presence.”

Navot Miller

Miller’s work employs vibrant colors and focuses on the themes of friendship, heartache, and lust. He has exhibitions in galleries in his hometown of Berlin, New York, and London.

Photo credit: Max Barnett

Steven Klein

This piece is one of three that originally appeared in a published cover story for Vogue Hommes Japan Vol.3 A/W 2009. Klein’s works are often imbued with a sense of dread, and study hypersexuality, ultra-violence, cyberpunk, biomechanical life, and more.

Lea Colombo

“‘Seeing Beyond’ urges us to feel a sense of freedom, to tap into an openness that allows us to look inwards and find internal liberation that might lead us to see anew and unveil the mysteries that are all around us,” says Colombo.